The Lessons Of Love
by Dramione9and34
Summary: Draco and Hermione stand on opposite sides of a war. In fact, Draco's life depends on killing and torturing people like her. However, during one grueling year at Hogwarts they find that they aren't as different as they once believed.
1. Chapter 1

**Draco and Hermione stand on opposite sides of a war. In fact, Draco's life depends on killing and torturing people like her. However, during one grueling year at Hogwarts they find that they aren't as different as they once believed.**

Hi friends! This is my very first time writing Dramione fanfiction and I am very excited. I will be switching between Draco and Hermione in the first person. The story will go from sixth year to the end of the war. Please let me know what you think. Enjoy!

I had to write an essay for potions, study for my transfiguration exam, and read an entire book for my history of magic class before tomorrow morning. If I didn't, my grades would surely take a teetering turn right off of a cliff. But I also had to fix the vanishing cabinet. And I had to kill Dumbledore. I only had a few months left for these particular tasks, and instead of my grades, my mother would be the one to suffer if I failed.

I wasn't sleeping. I was rarely seen in the Great Hall for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. I was rarely even seen in the Slytherin dormitories. If I wasn't in class, I was either in the library studying or in the Room of Hidden Things staring at a broken cabinet trying not to pull my hair out. And sometimes, when I could muster the emotional energy, I would consider the task of killing the headmaster. My life felt like it was crumbling, and the funny thing was that I didn't even care. If it was just me, I would run from Voldemort, or maybe even just let him kill me. But it wasn't just me, it was my mother, too. If I failed, she would be tortured until she was worse than dead. I couldn't let that happen, I would never forgive myself.

One evening, the crumbling pieces of my being broke into a million more pieces. I didn't think I could be any more broken, but the world had to laugh and prove me wrong. I was one floor below the Room of Requirement when I collapsed on the ground, my fists clinging to my hair as if one of the strands might just save me. I began to hyperventilate, it was just all too much. I couldn't do it. I didn't know how to fix this damn cabinet, and if I was being honest, I wasn't even sure that I wanted to.

It's not that I didn't believe in the things that my family had taught me. I didn't like mudbloods, I despised the fact that the bloodlines of the wizarding world were being dirtied. However, letting death eaters into a school just seemed wrong…but instead of getting to business I am leaning against a wall weeping. Great, just great.

I had just finished my charms homework in the library and I was heading back to the Gryffindor common room. There was a skip to my step and a smile on my face. I felt accomplished, I had finished all of my schoolwork for the week which meant that I could start reading ahead in the morning. Lost in a cheerful daze, I was startled to hear someone crying. No, not just crying, but openly sobbing. Wondering what was going on, I turned down the corridor and cautiously headed towards the noise.

"Malfoy?"

I gasped his name audibly and immediately regretted it. I had just been so shocked to see him, of all people, crying. Draco Malfoy doesn't cry! Does he?

I expected Draco to jump up and try to hex me, but instead he just looked up at me. He looked broken, so utterly broken. I almost felt bad for him, a part of me wished I could take away whatever pain he was feeling.

"Are you okay?" I asked cautiously. He looked surprised, like he was expecting me to mock him.

"I'm fine," he said sternly, standing up and turning to walk away. He had put his wall back up, I wasn't allowed to see him feel.

"Umm..okay. Goodnight, Malfoy…" I muttered awkwardly, before turning in the opposite direction, back to the Gryffindor common room.

When I arrived, Harry and Ron were waiting for me. We spent a few hours talking and playing games, but the look on Malfoy's face never left my mind. What could he possibly going through that caused him of all people to cry in the middle of a corridor? It just didn't seem right.


	2. Chapter 2

I changed to second person because I decided that it flowed better that way. Sorry for any confusion!

The next morning, Hermione went to the Great Hall with Draco Malfoy still on her mind. When she sat down for breakfast, her eyes couldn't help but search the Slytherin table. However, Malfoy wasn't there. Hoping he was okay, she loaded her plate and filled her cup with pumpkin juice. She would see him in potions, and maybe she could tactfully ask him what was going on the night before.

Draco sat down in potions, completely and utterly exhausted...and also embarrassed. Hermione Granger, who he had spent the last five years calling a mudblood, had seen him cry. And the worst part of it was, she had seen him cry and she had actually been...nice. She didn't laugh, she just asked if he was okay.

Draco's eyes slowly drifted around the classroom, and he caught eyes with her. He caught eyes with Granger. She was looking at him, not with amusement, but with concern. He couldn't understand why she would possibly care if he was upset or not, they hated each other! A part of him felt angry, angry not just at Granger but at himself. He was being pitied by a mudblood.

Mudblood...there was something about that word. Seeing the concerned look on her face, concern for him, he just couldn't even bring himself to think of her as such. Not in that moment, anyways. He was sure this would all wash over, and tomorrow they would go back to glaring at each other in the halls as usual.

He shook his head and looked back up at Professor Snape. As he drawled on, Draco began to tune out his voice. Then, suddenly, he heard his name.

"Draco! Draco!"

_Shit_… Professor Snape was calling on him and he had no idea what we were even learning that day. He hadn't been listening, not at all.

"Yes?" Draco asked, trying to force confidence into his voice. Maybe if Snape thought he was sure of himself, he wouldn't start quizzing him. Maybe he would turn to pick on the next sucker in class…

"Well, now that you're back," Snape said snydly, "We were just pairing up to work on today's potion. You're with Miss Granger."

_Shit. Just my luck._

Well, there was no way he was getting up and moving to her side of the room. No, not for the likes of her.

Granger stood and made her way over to him. He cast her a wary look. They hardly spoke a word to one another as they cut up their ingredients and put them into the cauldron, and for that Draco was grateful. However, they were the top students in potions, and so they were also the first to finish. This was sure to be awkward.

She gave him a strange look, and Draco raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did," he replied.

Hermione glared at him, clearly annoyed. And for some reason, it was at that moment he noticed just how completely beautiful she was. Suddenly, he felt the urge to reach out and stroke her hair, caress her cheek, and hold her in his arms.

_What am I thinking? She's a Mudblood…_

Suddenly, she spoke and her voice rang through my ears like that of an angel.

"I just wanted to ask, what happened yesterday?"

Draco looked at her, unsure how to respond.

"Nothing, well nothing happened yesterday specifically, anyways…" he told her. And this was the honest truth. Nothing had happened yesterday that hadn't been happening the past few months, he just happened to have a moment of weakness.

Suddenly, seeing the caring look in her eyes he was entranced again. He felt like he could trust her, and before he knew it he blurted out way too much information.

"The dark lord… he has my mother and… and I shouldn't have said that. Please don't say anything to anyone… I…" he looked around the classroom panicked, searching for a way out.

He didn't know what had gotten into him. He was only putting his mother in more danger by telling someone this, especially Hermione of all people. He could tell she was going to pester him more, so he quickly raised his hand and cut her off.

"Professor, we have finished our potions if you'd like to come take a look."

And nothing more was said on the matter for the rest of class. He would just have to trust that she would keep it to herself, that she wouldn't share his grand moment of stupidity with Potter or the Weasel.

What did he mean that Voldemort has his mother? Hermione didn't know, but she had a feeling it was important. And Draco had acted like there was more to say, before he cut himself off.

She was surprised, to be honest, that he had even told her what he did. Working with him in potions today was one of the only times he had ever been remotely civil to her, and she actually found herself admiring him more than she cared to admit. But there were more important matters…

She needed to get to the bottom of this situation with Narcissa Malfoy. Maybe they could help her, help Draco. Hermione didn't know why she cared so much, but there was something about the way Draco said it that pulled on her heartstrings. She wanted to help.

A few minutes before class was set to end, she raised her hand and announced she was headed to the loo. However, she really was headed to hide in an old classroom and wait to grab Draco and pull him in when he left potions. Does that sound crazy? Yes, absolutely, but there was something about Draco that was taking away some of her common sense. And so, in an abandoned classroom she waited.

Just as Draco was leaving potions, he felt a hand grab him, pulling him into an old classroom.

"What the…"

"SHHH!"

It was Granger. Of course it was bloody Granger. He looked at her irritated, with an expectant look on his face.

"What did you mean about Voldemort having your mother?" she asked, getting straight to the point.

And yet again, he found himself entranced by the look in her eyes. Yet again, he felt an overwhelming urge to trust her.

"He has her. He's using her against me, making me do horrible things, and if I don't…he will torture her until she is dead...or worse." Draco said, before thinking better of it.

She looked at him, shocked. Once again he noticed that she was so beautiful.

"Is there anything I can do to help? Maybe Dumbledore…"

"No!" he cut her off. "There is nothing you can do, and please don't tell Dumbledore."

He walked out of the room, afraid to glance back at her. There was no way to change his circumstances, he had long ago accepted that, and he didn't need Hermione Fucking Granger giving him false hope.


End file.
